The Catcher in the Rye Summary

Although The Catcher in the Rye caused considerable controversy when it was first published in 1951, the book—the account of three disoriented days in the life of a troubled sixteen-year-old boy—was an instant hit. W ithin two weeks after its release, it was listed number one on The New York Times best-seller list, and it stayed there for thirty weeks. It remained immensely popular for many years, especially among teenagers...

Encyclopedia Articles (2)

The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye, the only novel of the reclusive J. D. Salinger, is the story of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old boy who has been dismissed from Pencey Prep, the t...
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The catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger
Born on January 1, 1919, Jerome David Salinger was raised in a relatively wealthy family in New York City. He studied at a military academy in Pennsylvania ...
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J. D. Salinger Biographies (7)

Best known for his controversial novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), J. D. Salinger (born 1919) is recognized by critics and readers alike as one of the most popular and influential authors of Ameri...
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J. D. Salinger remains well known for a single novel: The Catcher in the Rye, which was hailed as "brilliant" upon its publication in 1951. While several of the short short stories Salinger also wrote...
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Biography EssayThe entire body of writing by which Jerome David Salinger wishes to be known is contained in four small books—one novel and thirteen short stories. All of these were published in ...
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J. D. Salinger was born on January 1, 1919, the second child and only son of a Jewish father, a prosperous importer of hams and cheeses and a Scotch-Irish mother. Very little is known about Salinger. ...
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The entire body of writing by which Jerome David Salinger wishes to be known is contained in four small books--one novel and thirteen short stories. All of these were published in the eleven-and-a-h...
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A few writers are so enveloped in their reputations that their work is virtually impossible to read without being distracted by their fame and their relation to the public. No one else has ever been k...
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Confronting another in an apparently unending series of collected essays about J. D. Salinger 's The Catcher in the Rye (1951), a British reviewer once asked with some asperity why nearly every Ameri...
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J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a remarkable book that gives readers a unique and perhaps gloomy perspective of the 1950's through Holden Caulfield, a cynical and peculiar teenager. Through ...
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The Jaded Narrator
The problem with most first person narratives is that there is only one point of view. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield shares his past experiences as...
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Holden is the main character in the story who is a teenage boy trying to find himself in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden seems to be obsessed with sexuality as well as very confused. As he is u...
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The teenage years are a time of transition between the simplicity of childhood and the complexity and responsibilities of adulthood. Most teenagers eagerly jump into a more adult role, striving to be...
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At first glance The Catcher in the Rye may seem like any other novel. It is not extraordinarily long and really getting involved in the book doesn't take much effort at all. The book is written as an ...
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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Huck Finn by Mark Twain have many similiarities and differences concerning how they are affected by a corrupt society. For example, Both Huck and Holden are...
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"I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of terrible, terrible fall... The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their ow...
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Most people wouldn't argue with Wilhelm Stekel's saying that "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly ...
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Holden Caulfield is well over 50 years of age now, but he is still aging through his adolescence. First introduced in a few short stories by J.D. Salinger in the late 40's, this astonishing character ...
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True Feelings
My grandfather used to say to me, "Don't bother to fight the battle, if you don't intend to win the war." What he was trying to show me was an important lesson in life. He was attemp...
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The Hypocritical World of Holden Caulfield
In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield views his surroundings with hypocrisy and contempt in an attempt to avoid the corrupt...
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How could he mess everything up again? What is Dad going to say? What is Dad going to do? "Daddy'll kill you," I pleaded. Holden had been kicked out of every college Dad put him in, and now Dad wou...
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"I'm crazy. I swear to God I am."pg125 Holden Caufield says throughout the book. The book you say, that would be The Catcher In The Rye written by J. D. Salinger. A very strange book with a Hoest P...
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J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, captures the struggles a young man, Holden, as he goes through a journey into adulthood. Holden fears change and growing up. He is terrified with the d...
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In the book `The Catcher in the Rye' I think that Salinger writes a very questionable story which has a very intriging insight into how modern adolesence behave and think in the time when the book was...
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What is the Matrix? The movie simply describes it as a dream world for people to live in without any knowledge of the truth. What is reality for Holden Caulfield? He believes there is a sense of a lac...
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Often times an author creates something good enough to be considered a masterpiece. These masterpieces all have different distinguishing characteristics. In J.D. Salinger's work of art, The Catcher in...
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In the Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger describes the character of a youth, who has a completely depressed view of the world and having difficulty trying to learn about himself. This troubled teen ...
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In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the physical and psychological unraveling of the narrator, Holden Caulfield, is related through his inarticulate, but sincere voice. Salinger weaves Holden's na...
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Adolescence is a difficult period in life and it depicted differently in both texts, Ferris Buller's Day Off and The Catcher in the Rye. This is achieved through the use of character choice, language,...
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Holden is having a very difficult time in his life right now. In the novel the Catcher In The Rye, author J.D. Salinger creatively writes about a young boy named Holden who seems to fall into a groo...
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There are many aspects of his alienation. In some ways, his alienation is imposed by the society that rejects him. In other ways, his isolation is self imposed. Unfortunately for him, Holden's ali...
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In one's life the journey from childhood to adulthood plays an important role on one's future. The ability to change must be necessary in order to become an adult. Salinger uses many literary terms...
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In the JD Salinger novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a teenager who is trying to cope with the death of his brother, Allie. His death is outwardly discussed at a few points in...
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The migrant ducks of New York City's Central Park in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye are the cause of a brief change in attitude for Holden Caulfield. He suddenly becomes less morose and lethar...
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"It kills me." This frequent response from Holden Caulfield summarizes J.D. Salinger's feelings about the post World War II Society. Characterized as a wealthy, materialistic society, the 1950's wer...
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Holden Caufield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is atypical of the 1950s teenage culture. The post war era symbolized the rise of the teenage. Unlike any other previous er...
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Is Holden Caulfield a moral person? The answer to this is yes. In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger we meet Holden, a young man the age of seventeen who is confused about life but i...
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In the few days between his departure from Pencey Prep and returning home, the readers of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" are submerged into the world of Holden Caulfield, and we see his disturbin...
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The transition from childhood to adulthood can be both exhausting and frightening. Every person at one point in time has to go through the emotional, mental, and behavioral changes that come with gr...
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Simplistic repetition is an age-old form of instruction that has proved its ability to impact the human mind. J.D. Salinger employs this basic tactic with his main character, Holden Caulfield, in his...
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Three years ago, a group of teenagers gathered at a friend's house in Atlanta, Georgia so that they could talk, listen to music, and just hang out with their friends. Even though the purpose was...
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Change has one of the biggest affects on our lives. Even though it is often never noticed, change occurs every minute and every second we are alive on this planet. We live each day without realizin...
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The novel "The Catcher in The Rye," written by J.D. Salinger is about a sixteen year old boy who tells the reader about his life until he is put into an institution. This boys name is Holden Caulfiel...
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For many people, learning to accept society is a very difficult task. It is hard to understand the actions of others and learn to accept yourself in a world of phoniness and illusion. In the book, C...
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From the very beginning of the novel, Holden decides what you want to hear, and what he's going to tell you. He refuses to talk about his parents' past because 'that stuff bores me', and his parents ...
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To the casual reader, there may be only one theme to Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. However, to the scrutinizing reader, another more important theme is realized by the last two sentences in the...
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Over time, characters in novels change due to society or events occurring in the world. In Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," Salinger uses Holden to show how being a teen alone in society can affec...
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J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" implores the life of one young man by the name of Holden Caufield. Holden lived the greater part of his life failing and constantly changing schools, on the wa...
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implores the life of one young man by the name of Holden Caufield. Holden lived the greater part of his life failing and constantly changing schools, on the way becoming very opinionated on the lives...
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In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we meet Holden, a young man who was confused about life. Throughout the book, he does many things that show us the two different sides of him. He...
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There is a piece of Holden in all of us. Holden is the main character in the book The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Holden is a teenager who goes through some troublesome times. Holden ...
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Upon reading both "Teddy" and Catcher in the Rye one could find endless parallels between the two. The author, J.D Salinger, creates stories with such analogous plots and characters that one can't h...
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In the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" we discover that Holden finds that he is disappointed with society in which he exists. Throughout the novel he goes on a journey to find his identity but falls an...
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Throughout adolescence, children often feel socially inept and may choose to ignore their problems through isolation and withdrawal. We all feel that we are being judged by peers, but what happens whe...
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In "The Catcher in the Rye", J.D. Salinger writes about two days in the life of a troubled teen. The main character's life is getting increasingly worse starting with the death of his brother Allie....
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Holden and Maslow Pyramid
One of the most famous fictional characters is Holden Caulfield. He is the main character in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The novel is about his journey a...
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In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield displays troubled understanding of dealing with people. He gets angry with almost everyone, including schoolmates, parents, scho...
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The Catcher In the Rye is a novel about a young man named Holden Caufield. Holden narrates the story over a span of four days.
When the novel begins, Holden attends Pencey Preparatory school, but h...
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People believe that in today's teenage years are the best times in a person's life, while actually they are the most stressful and confusing. There are many things in life that people have to deal wi...
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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, was first published in 1951. Since then it has been read by almost every American teenager. Even though times have changed greatly from the 1950's, teenagers ...
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"All Holden's experiences with the opposite sex are negative", do you agree"
Catcher in the Rye was written by J.D Salinger and was published in 1951 when the role of women in society was extremely d...
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Today the age-old phrase; "To thine ownself be true" shines along with many other memorable quotes and sayings in literature around the world. Not only was it directly used in Shakespeare's celebrated...
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Throughout J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the repetition of many symbols is apparent. Nearly all symbols in this novel are of great importance in understanding the storyline and conv...
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In the novel "The Catcher in the Rye", by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is terrified of growing up. He attempts to remain a part of the adolescent world because he is afraid o...
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The action of The Catcher in the Rye takes place between 15:00 on the Saturday previous to Christmas holidays 1949 and approximately the same time the next Monday. Holden Caulfield explains what happ...
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In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden fails his way out of school, and ends up wandering the streets of New York City. If anyone failed Holden it was definitely himself because Ho...
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Holden is a 17 year who is a typical adolescent boy in "Catcher in the rye." He is nothing more then a troubled teenager who doesn't understand nor tries to understand the rapidly changing world aroun...
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Holden in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" and Conrad in the movie "Ordinary People" are very closely related in many ways, but differ in a few as well. They are both going through a difficult tim...
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Holden, a character created by author J.D. Salinger, stars in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye", as the social outcast and loser. Throughout the novel Holden shows that he protests adulthood, and he...
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In the novel, "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, and the poem, "At Woodward's Gardens" by Robert Frost, discusses a common idea of how to live your life. In the novel the main character, Holden, ...
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In the novel, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D Salinger, the main character, Holden, is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is naively fixated on childhood. Throughout the novel, Hold...
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The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger begins with Holden, the narrator and protagonist, giving a brief description of his background, in one of the most well known openings of American literature. A...
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Holden doesn't change in his life as a way to protect himself from growing up which we clearly see through his ability to cope wit his brother's death, his liking towards museums, and his infatuation ...
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With so many different ways to live life, one's choices gradually develop into the form of a personality. Between Holden Caulfield and Annie Dillard, their experiences have led them to make choices ...
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The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger takes place in New York City during the peaceful 1950's. However, the 16 year-old boy, and main character, Holden Caulfield, does not have the ideal 1950's lif...
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"I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy." Holden Caulfield says in the openin...
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In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger uses the technique's first person perspective, symbolism and several language styles to help present the main character Holden Caulfield...
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The novel the catcher in the Rye and the film Dead Poets Society both convey the issue of non-conformity. Thus the way in which the novel and film express this theme is worth being examined. The Catch...
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In J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield displays an obsessive dislike for "phonies," or superficial people. Holden narrates of his adventures during a Chr...
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A Mind Hitting Rock Bottom
"Blessed is he that shepard's the weak through the valley of darkness for he is
truly his brother's keeper and the Savoir of lost children." This passage extracts exact...
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In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells about a 17 year old boy who is always observing people around him and picking out flaws in human nature. The boy, Holden Caulfield, symbolizes a typical ...
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Literary Devices Develop a Literary Classic
A literary classic to many must include strong and impacting events to make the story memorable. This memorable story must speak of real life situations t...
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J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye uses tone as a way to present his inclination on life. He portrayed his proclivity to life in an artistic fashion through the protagonist and antagoni...
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A nine year old girl is just like any other until she is one day badly beaten and raped by a stranger on her daily walk home from school. The girl soon recovers physically, but emotionally she was sud...
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The book, The Catcher in the Rye, by, J.D. Salinger, should not stay in the junior curriculum for many reasons. Some reasons are that the book has a very negative main character, the story ends abrup...
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The character of Holden Caulfield is basically a spoiled brat. If he had grown up in a rough part of Harlem and had none of the obvious privileges (private school, money) that are heaped upon him, h...
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In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is constantly pestered by phonies. He appears to be trying to establish his own personality in a world of conflicting attit...
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Authors Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger developed two similar characters from two novels of different time periods. In Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character Huckleberry Fi...
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With so many ways to live life, one's choice in how to live life gradually develops one's personality. When people alienate themselves from society it usually means they are not willing to conform or ...
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Adversity is a common thing in many people's lives. Adversity is a hard time someone faces in their life such as a death, a breakup, money problems, and many more things. I myself have dad many adv...
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The quote "A man can be defeated, but not destroyed" is a theme seen in many literary works. The meaning of this quote shows how self determination and love for others help someone get back on his or ...
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The transition from childhood to adulthood is something that isn't the same for everyone. The majority of people will most likely except responsibility and understand their role in life, but for some ...
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Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be depressed by the fact that everyone is phony. Holden seems to think that each person is not his individual self, but someone who is acting on other people in ...
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J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye represents the life of a teenager dealing with his personal issues. The main character's name is Holden. Holden has a record of poor grades and has been ki...
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In J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of s...
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The Cather in the Rye
The Cather in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, introduces us to a troubled young man, Holden Caulfield, who is torn between his curiosity to grow up and his want to stay youn...
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The picaresque novel "Catcher in the Rye" is based upon the narrator and central character Holden Caulfield and his episodic journey through the streets of New York. Throughout the novel Holden is t...
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A big problem throughout the world is the misuse of drugs and the way they are distributed. Women in foreign countries resort to producing drugs for dealers to sell in order to survive. People in poor...
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The Catcher in the Rye
By: JD Salinger
Why The Catcher in the Rye Should Not be Banned
By: Ryan Gash
By: Ryan Gash
There are people who would like to see The Catcher in the Rye banned from our ...
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The Catcher in the Rye depicts the three days of Holden's life after being kicked out of Pencey Prepatory School, just before the Christmas holidays. Holden had already been kicked out of three o...
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Upon reading The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and Nine Stories, it is obvious that they have been written by the same man, J.D. Salinger. In each work, Salinger reveals a new facet of his own...
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What exactly is society? According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language society is defined as a group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, part...
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John Milton once said "Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible." The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger in a highly demonstrative novel of the theme hypocrisy. Salinger promotes the def...
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In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the whole book was entirely written in the first person view by the protagonist of the novel, 17-year-old Holden Caulfield. He was just recently expelled fr...
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The Catcher in the Rye is the second most taught book in American high schools. The reason for this novel's popularity is greater than the value of studying Salinger's well-crafted prose and the nove...
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So what if no one cares where the birds fly to in the winter? That doesn't necessarily mean that the entire world is corrupt and cynical. Holden can't simply blame the world for the problems he's arou...
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Throughout J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield struggles to let go of his adolescence. Chapter five, in particular, epitomizes this shortcoming. As Holden strain...
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Symbolism, the revelation or suggestion of intangible conditions or truths by artistic invention. Everyone loses their innocence at some point and some try to protect their own or others. J.D. Saling...
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The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger, is a very symbolic and intriguing story full of symbolism and reoccurring themes. I'd like to start off by pointing out the simplistic style in...
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The main character in this story is Holden Caulfield, who is "The Catcher in the Rye." Holden is a rude sixteen year old boy who is immature, talkative, not very intelligent, very impulsive, and he is...
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Many interpretations are possible of J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, the narrator of his novel The Catcher in the Rye. However, by observing Holden's behavior patterns, one will notice his tendenc...
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Free Book Notes (1)

The Catcher in the Rye Book Notes is a free study guide on The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Browse the summary below:
&nbsp; Author Biography / Context of the Work
&nbsp; One-Page Plot Sum...
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